Gaza Jihadists Launch Anti-Hamas Videos In Bid To Get Islamic State Official Recognition

TEL AVIV – Gaza Jihadists have published videos attacking Hamas as anti-Islamic in what Breitbart Jerusalem has learned was their latest attempt to persuade the Islamic State to recognize them as a local affiliate.

In the video, they accuse Hamas of collaborating with the Jewish and Western “infidels,” and lambast the Arab states for double-crossing the Palestinians.

The video was visibly inspired by IS’ propaganda, and produced by a network called Ashad Communication, which was meant to signal to IS “that it’s an organized group that has adopted the organization’s ideology and practices,” a jihadi source in Gaza told Breitbart Jerusalem. So far, IS has not officially admitted the Gaza group to its ranks and has failed to say why.

The video calls Hamas out on its policy of arresting Salafi activists, including those who fire rockets at Israel.

One of the videos starts with a longshot of Jerusalem’s Al Aqsa Mosque, accompanied by a narration saying that the Palestinians, including Hamas and the Arabs do nothing to liberate Jerusalem from the “sons of apes, the Jews, who kill Muslims every day.”

It goes on to praise Osama bin Laden and the “Prince of the Faithful” Abu bakr al Baghdadi. It promises the Jews that “Palestine will be your burial ground. You just wait.”

The producers have coopted the stabbing and car-ramming attackers of the last months, saying that their lack of factional affiliation proves their point that “the Palestinians in Jerusalem have nobody on their side except Allah.”

Another video plays a recording of an al-Baghdadi speech vowing to liberate Palestine by force. It then says that Welayat Sinai, IS’ Egyptian affiliate, promised to carry out attacks against Jews.

Entitled “Palestine sacrificing itself for the Caliphate,” the video was published two weeks ago. It tells the story of Palestinian gunmen who fought for IS in Syria and Iraq and died in action.

There are more the 200 Palestinians fighting for IS, the source said, almost all of them from Gaza. In addition, dozens of Salafists in Gaza pledged allegiance to the organization.

Last January, the jihadi militia Army of Islam pledged allegiance to IS and asked the organization for an official recognition, saying they had met the requirements in terms of infrastructure and religious instruction, Breitbart Jerusalemreported at the time.

The source said that the multitude of Salafi organizations yearning for IS’ recognition prevents the leadership in Iraq and Syria from making a decision.